Epilogue
RAWLEY - NOVEMBER (WAVES BYE WEEK - FIVE WEEKS LATER)
“Rawley, Avery, this is your five-month anniversary, I believe?”
The Orlando Morning Sunshine radio host looks at us expectantly, waiting for an answer.
Avery glances at me, barely hiding a sly smile. “Why don’t you take this one, Rawley?”
Fine. “It’s five months since I came to one of her games for the first time. Since our first initial appearance together.” Not a lie.
“It’s been quite a ride watching our two newest Orlando sports stars fall in love.”
Also not a lie. Anymore.
“Just imagine living it,” Avery jokes to the host, then looks at me with unmasked affection.
I pick up her hand and clasp it in between mine. “It’s definitely been a once-in-a-lifetime situation.”
“And, Avery, I hate to pry, but since the playoffs ended, there’s been some photos of you with a new tattoo. There’s a lot of speculation online about what it means.”
Avery holds up her free arm, showing off the small cursive tattoo on her wrist to the host, even though the radio listeners can’t see it.
“Yes, it says ‘a bet is a bet.’”
“Oh, does that have any special meaning?”
We make eye contact before she responds.
“It does, but I’m not sharing it,” Avery says with a grin.
The host gives a small laugh in return, and then changes the topic.
“So are you two doing anything during this bye week for the Waves? Taking a vacation together?”
I take this answer. “We do have plans, but nothing as relaxing as a trip. We’re moving Avery into her new place.”
“Oh, congratulations!”
“Yeah, I’m excited.” She’d ended up jumping on a house two streets down from Sarah’s when it came up for sale. All-cash offer, thirty-day close, and BOOM—the house was now hers.
I love seeing her happiness at the progress in her goals. “We’re off to do that after this interview actually.”
“Well, good luck with the moving process! I’m grateful you made this interview happen.”
“Of course. We love representing this town.”
“Speaking of that, Rawley, the Waves now have nine wins and only two losses. What do you think of your Super Bowl prospects?”
I’m used to answering this question now. We’re one of the favorites.
“We’re going to work hard to make it happen. There’s a determination in our locker room that is powerful.”
“Welcome news to fans, for sure. And you’re being talked about as a Rookie of the Year candidate, on track to have close to one hundred catches. How does that feel after everything that happened last year leading up to falling in the draft?”
I pause before answering. The question is heavier than she knows.
Avery squeezes my hand, and I respond after glancing at her.
“It was hard at times to stay positive when others were criticizing my character, my focus. But I believe in myself and the team. When push came to shove, I learned not to let everything that happened define me. I decided to embrace who I am and be the best version of me for the team. And for the people I love.”
“And for yourself.” Another squeeze.
“And for myself.”
“That’s lovely,” the host says. “And a perfect note to end on. Thank you, Avery and Rawley. We will have to do this again.”
“After the Waves win the Super Bowl,” Avery adds before winking.
Once we’re off the air, we say our goodbyes to the show’s team and stride out to my car.
“I give it three seconds until Taylor texts us saying ‘good job,’” Avery jokes.
“Yeah, not betting against you on that.”
BUZZ…
TAYLOR: Great job you two.
When Avery sits down in the passenger seat, she texts Taylor back in our group message.
AVERY: It’s not hard to act as if I like this guy now that it’s real.
“It wasn’t ever hard, Avie,” I retort while I turn on the car, in a fake offended voice.
She leans over and kisses my cheek. “No, it wasn’t.”
When we get to the new house, Avery takes a minute to lean against the car and take it in.
“My own place. So ready for this.”
As she says it, I put my arm around her shoulders. I know how important this is to her.
“Proud of you. And everything you did to make this happen.”
“Everything we did.” She leans into me. “And you’re next, right?”
“Yup.”
This week I purchased a condo in a building under construction, slated to be move-in ready during the offseason. It’s only seven minutes from Avery, and ten from Landon.
And if things progress with Avery so that we move in together down the road, the condo’s an excellent investment. Or so Grace told me, and since she’s a business manager, I’m going to follow her advice.
The vehicle delivering the first wave of Avery’s new things pulls in seconds later. Since her previous rental had been furnished, she’s bought all new items from a local store.
The awesome part is she didn’t have to worry about cost, and was able to take care of the invoices herself.
“Okay, let me show you where everything is going to go,” she says as the movers greet us.
Three hours later, her house is outfitted with couches, shelving, tables, and even two beds, all set up by the guys.
“Almost home sweet home,” she says as the delivery people leave.
There are boxes everywhere of smaller, but no less important items, like dishes and pans, that she’s ordered over the last couple of days. Still a ton to organize and unpack, and probably more to order too.
“We thrive in chaos, right, Avie?”
“Too true.”
A knock comes at the door. “Hi, hi,” I hear Grace’s voice say.
It’s round two of today’s visitors as Landon, Rori, Grace, and Johnson arrive. Rori is in her offseason, and everyone decided to chill locally during the bye week, knowing this move was on my agenda.
“We can’t have a trip without you and Avery,” Grace said when I brought it up a few weeks back.
So the whole group is here, other than Connor, who’s now marching through his sophomore year at Princeton.
When they walk in, Landon’s carrying several pizzas and Johnson has a cooler.
“We come bearing gifts,” Rori says, holding some paper bags.
“And I promise you it’s not just the food,” Grace notes with a laugh. “We have some real housewarming presents.”
“Oh, please, it’s just nice that you’re here to support this whole operation,” Avery says, smiling.
“Well, put us to work,” Landon says after he sets the pizzas down, with Johnson nodding.
“There’s plenty of that to go around,” I observe, before directing them to help me with some of the heavier boxes that need to be moved before they’re unpacked.
We do that for about forty-five minutes, Landon and Johnson letting me take the lead on each step and looking to me for their next orders.
Once we’ve finished those tasks, we head back to the kitchen. Avery is stacking the dishwasher with some of the new items for a cleaning, while Grace and Rori are unpacking other boxes.
“I’m starving,” I admit to the group, assuming I’m not the only one.
“Yeah, let’s eat,” Avery agrees, pushing the start button for the dishwasher.
“We brought paper plates,” Grace volunteers, before grabbing them out of one of the bags Rori had.
As we chow down, the conversation turns quickly to questions about Avery’s offseason plans.
“Honestly, I’m excited to have some downtime while Rawley and the rest of you Waves finish the NFL season. I’ll set up the house, get to explore the local area more, and recharge my battery.”
“That sounds nice,” Grace acknowledges.
“Once the NFL season ends, we’ll have at least ten weeks before any Surge duties come into play, so we’re thinking about a Europe trip.”
“I’ve never gone, and Avery only went as a kid, on family vacations,” I add.
Rori puts her fork down. “Ooo, if you can match up the schedules right, maybe you can come to one of my spring tournaments there?”
“Definitely,” Avery adds. They’ve gotten tighter the last few weeks, having hung out a lot since their seasons are both done.
We’ve all finished eating after another ten minutes, and we’re about to get back to work when Grace gets a notification on her phone. She picks it up, and her face twists.
“Huh, that’s weird?”
“What is it?” Johnson asks.
“A friend of mine from Princeton just sent me this article from the student paper there.” She pauses and looks first to Landon, and then me. Perplexed.
“Okay?” Johnson replies.
Grace gives a little shake of her head, like she doesn’t believe what she’s reading is real.
“It says the kicker on the Princeton football team got injured, and Connor has been added to the roster to replace him?”
What?
I haven’t heard a peep of this from Connor.
What the fuck? I thought he was sticking with soccer for now? Why wouldn’t he tell me about this development?
“When is it from?” I ask. Maybe he just hasn’t had a chance to message or call me yet?
“Yesterday,” she says. Plenty of time to tell me then. That secretive little brother of ours.
Landon looks understandably confused.
“I don’t get it? Connor always said he’d never play football.”
“I know…” my sister replies.
“Well, if there’s one thing I’ve learned,” Avery says, smiling up at me. “It’s never say never.”